NEW DELHI: The power situation in the Capital continued to remain grim for the second day in a row on Friday even as the Delhi Government's Power Department claimed it was doing the needful. Load shedding in most areas left residents sweating as the city reported a shortfall of about 400 MW of power.

However, the Capital received 210 MW of power from the Badarpur power plant, where two units were incapacitated on Thursday. The second unit, which supplies 100 MW of power, is still being repaired.

While most parts of the city reported power cuts, officials at the Power Department said they were hopeful that the situation would improve in the next few days. Blaming Uttar Pradesh for heavily overdrawing from the Northern Grid, officials said: "Since U.P. was drawing more than its allocated share, Delhi had to bear the brunt of it. We are hopeful of the situation easing out soon," a senior Power Department official said.

Harassed by recurrent power cuts residents of East and South-West Delhi that were the worst affected blamed the Government for failing to take the discoms to task. However, Power Minister Haroon Yusuf refuted the charge: "Whatever we are required to do, we have done it and will continue to do it. We have made it clear to the discoms that if power is available and load shedding is still carried out, then the Government will take necessary steps." Asserting that the Government is committed to resolving the power crisis, he said: "If the discoms fail to deliver, there is a provision for penalties as listed by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission."

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